A sense of place in our communities

The many communities that make up Maui County are diverse. But in each, there’s a shared sense of place among residents.

That sense of place was strong last week during visits in two of our communities.

In Kihei, the County of Maui issued a temporary certificate of occupancy that will allow Kulanihako‘i High School to open for students next month. The long-awaited news was announced at the $245 million state-of-the-art campus on July 13, following months of work by our county team and state agencies.

We worked to ensure that the school would open because we want South Maui students to have the opportunity for learning close to home without having to commute to Central Maui. We want them to experience the hometown pride associated with attending a high school in their neighborhood and representing their school in sports and club activities. At the same time, we‘re committed to the safety of students. For that reason, students will go to the school only by vehicle, while the state Department of Education continues efforts to secure funding to construct a pedestrian overpass.

The path to the opening was paved by a formal agreement between the state and county that indemnifies the county from liabilities arising from any items, including the lack of a pedestrian overpass, that are not in compliance with state Land Use Commission requirements.

We join with the parents and students who have expressed joy over the high school‘s opening, which comes seven years after the school broke ground in 2016 and more than a decade after the idea for a Kihei high school took shape. We hope that the community will support their students who will make use of the new school and campus.

Before that momentous announcement, we spent two days on Lana‘i as part of our Holomua Kakou initiative to bring county government to the remote communities of our county.

We realize that residents of our rural communities may feel they have less access to their government.

So instead of expecting Lana‘i residents to catch a flight or ferry to Maui, we ran the Office of the Mayor from Lana‘i City for those two days.

Several people stopped by our dropin center July 11 and 12, and about 50 residents showed up for our Community Talk Story at night on July 11 in the cafeteria at Lana‘i High & Elementary School.

One recurring topic was housing and the desire to increase homeownership opportunities on the island, where residents say the shortage of housing has made it difficult to recruit professionals and employees.

Some of those who are fortunate enough to own homes want to see the same opportunities for their friends and children.

From day one, housing has been a priority for our administration. We‘re working on assessing the need for housing and the demand for home ownership. We also are working on developing infrastructure for future housing.

Another concern raised was transportation, with some residents concerned about the future of the Expeditions Maui-Lanai Ferry that serves as a lifeline for services including medical care. Funding has been appropriated for a study on the feasibility of creating an interisland ferry system to transport people and goods between Lahaina Harbor, Manele Small Boat Harbor on Lana‘i, and possibly Kaunakakai Harbor on Moloka‘i.

We so appreciated the reception from our Lana‘i residents, including those who took time from their active lives to attend the Community Talk Story. We don’t have all the answers to their questions. We hope residents will work with us as we discuss ideas and seek solutions.

Our visit to Lana‘i followed similar ventures to Moloka‘i and Hana, where we also met with residents.

We learned so much from residents. We’re reminded of how resilient and creative our rural residents and communities are in finding resources that others take for granted.

In all of our communities, residents care about their neighbors and want to keep the qualities that make their communities unique. We want that too.

“Our County,” is a column from Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen and his administration and discusses county issues and activities of county government. It alternates on Saturdays with “Council’s 3 Minutes.”